Neal Bascomb is not only an editor and journalist, but also a skilful writer. Everyone knew that Roger Bannister broke the four-minute-mile barrier, but few know the details of the pursuit that drove Roger and his rivals, John Landy and Wes Santee, in their quest. The Perfect Mile, written by Bascomb, shows how the character of the these three individuals swelled as they pursued the love of sports and running because at that time no endorsements or money was given to these individuals for winning. Only the pride and happiness was what each of these three men received after their numerous wins in the running circle.
The Perfect Mile, is a story about the making of history, and the race to get there. The year was 1954, and history was already in the making. Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, had reached the summit of Mt.Everest, which to many people is the rooftop of the world. After this amazing feat was broken Roger Bannister then wanted to make Great Britain the best country by him running the first sub four-minute-mile and breaking the barrier surrounding four-minutes. After making themselves fools at the Helenski Olympics, John Landy and Wes Santee also wanted to prove critics wrong and race Roger Bannister to the great feat of being the first to break the imaginative barrier.
John Landy was one of the best runners to ever come from the continent of Australia. After the Helenski Olympics, where he failed greatly, he decided he needed to change his running style if he was going to do something incredible. While in Helinski, John took many notes from the famous Soviet Union runner, Zatopek, and based his form and technique around his. John continued to train hard everyday, sometimes averaging over three hundred miles in less than a month. His fierce and brutal training molded his body into an extreme amount of shape and while he ran in many different events he keep taking time off his personal best until he was running almost 4:00 miles every race.
Wes Santee, The Kansas Rocket, was just fresh into college and a great track star for the Kansas Jayhawks when his Coach, Bill Easton, noticed he had the ability to run the four minute mile. Wes was also a member of the U.S Track team that ran in the Helinski Olympics and of course he too did horrible just like Bannister and Landy did in the mile. This made him want to accomplish something great, and shift the negative criticism away from him. Thats when he sat his sites on the four-minute-mile barrier also. Wes came real close to the barrier by running 4:00.5 mile at the great Texas Relays, but to his dissapointment the AAU, Ameatur Athletic Union, put him under investigation and that would come to be his last race forever. The investigation came about when the AAU found out that Wes Santee received more money than he was allowed to. After months of court battles, the AAU banned Wes Santee for running again in a sanctioned event, and his dream of being the first to run the sub four-minute-mile vanished.
Now, this incredible barrier was left up to these two individuals, Roger Bannister and John Landy. Roger wanted to beat John Landy to break the barrier, so he called up a couple of his good friends, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher. These two runners jobs were to pace him each lap, so he could run a minimum of four 60 second laps. He chose to run this historical mile at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, because he helped build that track. At 5:50 P.M. on May 6, 1954, the starting gun fired for the three runners to take off. In 3:59.4 minutes later, Roger Bannister crossed the finish line holding the new world record and finally breaking the four-minute-mile barrier. John Landy was disappointed that Roger beat him to it, but was happy for him.
After Roger broke the barrier, many people wanted to see John Landy and Roger Bannister run face to face in a race. Well these people received their wish because on August 6, 1954, three months after Roger's famed mile, Bannister and Landy lined up at the starting line in Vancouver to run the mile in a race dubbed " The Mile of the Century". The two competitors were neck to neck the whole race until Bannister made his final kick at the end nearly beating John Landy by one second but both of them under four minutes which was both of their goals.
After that race, Roger retired from running. Roger devoted himself back to medicine and neurology after reaching his goal of running the first sub four-minute-mile. Bannister's world record time held its self in place for only two years when rival John Landy broke his record by only tenth's of a second. After breaking Bannister's record, Landy decided to retire also and devoted himself back to agriculture and to becoming a better scientist. Landy's record then sat in the record books for just shy of four year before someone else beat his time. Now today, more than a thousand people have broken this record and it still continues to drop. No matter how far the record falls though, many people will look back to the breaking of the four-minute barrier and the showdown between Landy and Bannister in Vancouver as two defining moments in the history of the mile and in the sport of running itself.
The Perfect Mile, is a story about the making of history, and the race to get there. The year was 1954, and history was already in the making. Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, had reached the summit of Mt.Everest, which to many people is the rooftop of the world. After this amazing feat was broken Roger Bannister then wanted to make Great Britain the best country by him running the first sub four-minute-mile and breaking the barrier surrounding four-minutes. After making themselves fools at the Helenski Olympics, John Landy and Wes Santee also wanted to prove critics wrong and race Roger Bannister to the great feat of being the first to break the imaginative barrier.
John Landy was one of the best runners to ever come from the continent of Australia. After the Helenski Olympics, where he failed greatly, he decided he needed to change his running style if he was going to do something incredible. While in Helinski, John took many notes from the famous Soviet Union runner, Zatopek, and based his form and technique around his. John continued to train hard everyday, sometimes averaging over three hundred miles in less than a month. His fierce and brutal training molded his body into an extreme amount of shape and while he ran in many different events he keep taking time off his personal best until he was running almost 4:00 miles every race.
Wes Santee, The Kansas Rocket, was just fresh into college and a great track star for the Kansas Jayhawks when his Coach, Bill Easton, noticed he had the ability to run the four minute mile. Wes was also a member of the U.S Track team that ran in the Helinski Olympics and of course he too did horrible just like Bannister and Landy did in the mile. This made him want to accomplish something great, and shift the negative criticism away from him. Thats when he sat his sites on the four-minute-mile barrier also. Wes came real close to the barrier by running 4:00.5 mile at the great Texas Relays, but to his dissapointment the AAU, Ameatur Athletic Union, put him under investigation and that would come to be his last race forever. The investigation came about when the AAU found out that Wes Santee received more money than he was allowed to. After months of court battles, the AAU banned Wes Santee for running again in a sanctioned event, and his dream of being the first to run the sub four-minute-mile vanished.
Now, this incredible barrier was left up to these two individuals, Roger Bannister and John Landy. Roger wanted to beat John Landy to break the barrier, so he called up a couple of his good friends, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher. These two runners jobs were to pace him each lap, so he could run a minimum of four 60 second laps. He chose to run this historical mile at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, because he helped build that track. At 5:50 P.M. on May 6, 1954, the starting gun fired for the three runners to take off. In 3:59.4 minutes later, Roger Bannister crossed the finish line holding the new world record and finally breaking the four-minute-mile barrier. John Landy was disappointed that Roger beat him to it, but was happy for him.
After Roger broke the barrier, many people wanted to see John Landy and Roger Bannister run face to face in a race. Well these people received their wish because on August 6, 1954, three months after Roger's famed mile, Bannister and Landy lined up at the starting line in Vancouver to run the mile in a race dubbed " The Mile of the Century". The two competitors were neck to neck the whole race until Bannister made his final kick at the end nearly beating John Landy by one second but both of them under four minutes which was both of their goals.
After that race, Roger retired from running. Roger devoted himself back to medicine and neurology after reaching his goal of running the first sub four-minute-mile. Bannister's world record time held its self in place for only two years when rival John Landy broke his record by only tenth's of a second. After breaking Bannister's record, Landy decided to retire also and devoted himself back to agriculture and to becoming a better scientist. Landy's record then sat in the record books for just shy of four year before someone else beat his time. Now today, more than a thousand people have broken this record and it still continues to drop. No matter how far the record falls though, many people will look back to the breaking of the four-minute barrier and the showdown between Landy and Bannister in Vancouver as two defining moments in the history of the mile and in the sport of running itself.